A wine from Burgundy’s most expensive estate leads total trade in another strong week for the region.
- DRC Romanée-Conti 2010 was the most traded wine this week.
- The recently released Joseph Phelps Insignia 2018 pushed the US market in September.
- The 2017 vintage led Bordeaux trade, as its Southwold assessment is expected soon.
Our first mini-report on Italian fine wine regions was published for Liv-ex members this week. The increased diversity of Italian wines trading on the secondary market would have hardly been possible without Italy’s strengthened image as a competitive fine wine force on the international stage. We explore the factors behind this development and provide an overview of trading activity in the past year.
In another first, our Quarterly Market Review: July – September is coming next week and will be available for all. The short report will focus on fine wine prices and the performance of our leading indices.
100-point wines
Two major publications released critical reports yesterday: Neal Martin’s retrospect look at the 2001 vintage continued with Sauternes (Vinous) and Jeb Dunnuck’s assessed the 2019s from Paso Robles. Some wines were deemed perfect.
Yquem 2001 received a 100-points from Martin, who described it as ‘simply one of the most magnificent wines of any kind that can pass your lips’. (Another sample of the wine received 99-points by the critic when tasted at the estate in September 2021).
Two wines received the ultimate rating from Jeb Dunnuck too. The 2019 L’Aventure Cote A Cote, which he called ‘magical’ and ‘the finest vintage ever produced’, and 2019 L’Aventure Estate Cuvee – ‘pure perfection from Paso Robles’.
Regional trade share
Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhône, and the USA increased their value trade share in the last week of September. American wines had an active month overall, taking 10% of the market by value. A recent La Place release helped drive trade for the region – Joseph Phelps Insignia 2018.
Burgundy, which had a strong week (26.3%) and accounted for 22% of trade by value in September, has also experienced the biggest market expansion so far this year. So much so it is now the region with the highest number of wines on the secondary market.
Bordeaux, which lost trade share this week (32.2%), was led by activity for its 2017 vintage. Major UK critics are expected to release their assessments on tasting Bordeaux 2017 in Southwold this month. Liv-ex members will be able to read our analysis on its secondary market performance in this month’s Market Report.
Top traded wines
This week’s trade was led by DRC Romanée-Conti 2010, which boasts 97-99 points from Antonio Galloni (Vinous). “Some things remain beyond the full grasp of the human intellect. Romanée-Conti is the vinous equivalent,” is what Galloni thought of the wine, which has risen over 78% in value in the past five years.
Romanée-Conti topped the list of the most expensive wines in the world in the 2021 Liv-ex Classification. But its index has been slowest to rise among the DRC components in the past year, up 6.9%. An article, published yesterday, examined the performance of the DRC wines, and their influence on the direction of Burgundy’s secondary market.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti 2010
Giacomo Conterno, Barolo Francia 2017 was the most active wine from Italy, and the fifth most traded overall. Year-to-date, the number of Barolo wines attracting secondary market activity is 8% higher that the whole of 2020. The number of Barolo wines trading has increased over 500% in the past five years.
Not a member of Liv-ex? Request a demo to see the exchange and a member of our team will be in touch with you shortly.
